High-density housing has its place
The concept of highdensity housing tends to induce a mix of extreme responses and it’s easy to understand why. High-density housing has a reputation internationally, and more recently here in New Zealand, for increased crime, anti-social behaviour, overcrowding and sub-standard living conditions. That’s a lot of ingrained prejudice towards a concept that, if done right, could be one solution to the housing and affordability crisis in New Zealand.
Some of New Zealand’s early ventures into medium-density housing have been recognised by the Ministry for the Environment as examples of best practice medium-density urban design. However, the Urban Design Review, released last November, tells a different story.
It details increased crime that is blamed on poor design features, including rear lanes that make it easier for criminals to break in, networks of narrow streets that cause issues for emergency services and overgrown trees that obscure streetlights and make security a challenge.
Internationally, thousands of medium- and high-density housing developments have had a bad rap for falling short.
Higher-density housing conjures up images of busy cities, with units stacked and packed like sardines, contributing to poor long-term health and wellbeing.
On a visit to Singapore last year, I saw countless rows of identical high-rise apartment buildings with hundreds of occupants. I can’t comment on the overall wellbeing of those who live there, but I do know these apartments wouldn’t be held up as an exemplar for highdensity housing.
However, despite higher density’s reputation, I don’t think it should be written off just yet. There are good examples New Zealand developers could follow, such as the Nightingale Housing project in Melbourne.
When done well, higherdensity housing can support better and cheaper public transport; it has been found to encourage stronger community relationships and interactions; it can be more sustainable and affordable; and will go some way to reducing urban sprawl.
What the negativity does suggest is that creating a higherdensity community requires clever design, research, longterm thinking and a
commitment to public and shared spaces to ensure housing is useable, safe and sustainable.
Learning lessons from here and abroad is one way we can create better, higher-density communities that have a greater chance of success.
High-density housing must be driven by the desire for healthier outcomes for all New Zealanders. And communities must take the lead, as the developer-driven model can focus far too much on profits and returns for shareholders at the expense of the outcome for occupants.
Not rushing the design phase is of utmost importance, as is researching and understanding the needs of the communities that will be housed in these developments now and into the future.
To guarantee success, we need to understand the complete life cycle of the development and what is required from the design, materials, location and everything in between.
This means architects, architectural designers and developers need to consider many factors.
They need to find out what is happening in the broader
community, details of local shops, cafes, transport links and the location of health/ community and educational facilities.
They must also consider how to ensure there is a mix of users. For denser housing to work well, it needs to be home to young families, professionals and retirees and there needs to be different housing types to cater for individual and group needs.
This will enhance the community, decrease isolation and increase neighbourhood satisfaction.
Architectural Designers New Zealand represents more than 500 architects and architectural designers.
On April 1 and 2, we are holding a Medium- to HighDensity Housing Summit in Auckland to explore how New Zealand as a community and a country can create better, higher-density communities.
Interestingly, so far the response to our summit has been
mixed. We recently shared news of our summit on social media and comments included ‘‘Why would anyone pay for less house?’’ through to ‘‘Ask yourself if you were to live in one, how would you like it? Concrete, glass plus more tarsealing heating up our cities!’’
These comments don’t shock us, but they are surprising when we are discussing a possible solution to New Zealand’s biggest housing issues.
I do know that it will be fascinating to explore the ways some of the leading minds in architecture, development and urban planning suggest we create successful high-density housing that steers clear of the pitfalls that we have seen abroad and, unfortunately, at home.
Julie-Ann Ross is chair of the Architectural Designers New Zealand (ADNZ) Board. ADNZ is holding a two-day Summit on Medium to High Density Housing in Auckland on April 1 and 2.